


Noble Bird, Cunning Wolf

by Kamui4Heroes



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Gen, Injury Recovery, Manipulation, Not A Shipfic, Post G:Z episode 3, shinonome being a rat bastard like usual, shion pls stop getting crushed by rocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26397964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamui4Heroes/pseuds/Kamui4Heroes
Summary: Getting crushed by falling rocks was not a very fun affair. Kiba Shion knew this because at the ripe age of sixteen, he had already done it twice.---In which, Shion actually has to recover from getting crushed for the second time and Shinonome pays him a visit.
Relationships: Kiba Shion & Shinonome Shouma
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Noble Bird, Cunning Wolf

Getting crushed by falling rocks was not a very fun affair. Kiba Shion knew this because at the ripe age of sixteen, he had already done it twice. 

But, he was also more fortunate than any other person in history that had befallen (pun intended) the same fate. Being the sole heir to Kiba corporations afforded him plenty of privileges, including top tier, in-home medical attention. This was especially helpful considering how battered he was from his fight was Valeos.

A sprained ankle, several cuts, and the motley of ugly bruises that Shion escaped with were a stroke of dumb luck when he very well could've been crippled for life. Or dead, but he preferred not to think about that too much. 

As it were, Shion sat in his bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows as he tapped away at a tablet, flicking through conversations with glazed eyes, until there was a knock at the door. 

"Master Shion?" the calm voice of a maid. She was Iwakura's temporary replacement while the elderly butler recovered. Shion liked her well enough, but truly, no one could rival Iwakura's skill when it came to brewing tea. 

"Yes?" He replied. 

"You have a visitor. 

Shion's eyes flicked up from the tablet he had in his lap. He hadn't been expecting anyone. Perhaps it was a family friend? Someone from the Vanguard Association with news? Maybe, but, something else in Shion's gut flared. An instinct telling him to fight or flee, even though there was no threat in his own bedroom in the newly fortified Kiba estate. 

"Who is it?" He asked warily. 

"A gentleman who was previously associated with Kiba Corporations. Shinonome Shouma, I believe."

His gut was right. There was a wolf at his doorstep. 

Shion's immediate instinct was to send him away. Frankly, Shinonome Shouma was probably the last person he wanted to see him like this, all bedridden up from his blunder. 

But, another part of Shion's brain considered the alternative. There was still so much that they didn't know about the Diffriders. In fact, right before the maid had knocked, he had been in communication with the former Bloody Angels (now his own, personal task force for when he needed it) trying to get information on their movements. 

Shion had learned the hard way that underhanded tactics sometimes triumphed over noble deeds. 

And Shinonome was about as dishonorable as sources got. 

He took a deep breath to steady himself, then finally responded, "Send him in."

\---

Shinonome looked much the same as when Shion had seen him last. He still donned the same dark moto jacket and glasses, still had the same electrifying gold eyes that seemed to bore right into Shion's being. Each step that Shinonome took towards the visitor's chair beside the bed pumped a shot of adrenaline into Shion's system. 

Part of him wanted to run and leap out of the window, while the other part wanted to deck the muted smile off of Shinonome's face. 

He forced himself to do neither. Instead, he sat up, back straight, shoulders squared, hands folded in his lap, and chin just slightly above level. A picturesque of composure honed from years of smiling his way through social events. If Shion hated to be around Shinonome, the only thing worse would be to give the bastard a shred of satisfaction from how shaken Shion really was to be around him. 

Shinonome finally sat, then asked, "How are you, Shion-kun?"

"Fine, and you?"

"You don't look very fine," Shinonome's smile picked up an edge of mirth. 

Irritated already, Shion cut to the chase, "What are you playing at?"

"Now now, it's not nice to be rude to your guests," Shinonome chided languidly, "I even brought you a gift." The man reached down into a small blue paper bag that Shion hadn't noticed before and pulled out a small glass vase filled with white chrysanthemums. 

Shion frowned at the connotation of receiving funeral flowers when he was still very much alive. 

"You have terrible taste."

"My maiden heart is wounded, Shion-kun. I chose them out especially for you, you know?" Shinonome said as he set the vase down on an already overflowing bedside table, full of flowers and get-well gifts. 

Shion sighed. Normally, he would've liked to believe that he could handle Shinonome. He had grown older and smarter. He knew how to better rein in his emotions and rely on rationale and logic. But being in his room, disabled by injuries from his overwhelming loss, and powerless to do much else than wait to recover sent Shion back to a year ago when Kiba Corporations had been taken over. 

When he had lost everything. 

And being face to face with Shinonome, the man who orchestrated so many of his woes, who knew how to pluck at Shion's strings just right when he was vulnerable like this, was downright suffocating. 

"Why are you here?" Shion bit out. 

Shinonome leaned back in his chair, "Relax, little bird. I'm just here because I heard you were injured. Falling rocks again? I must say it's not very creative to have the same near-death experience twice."

Shion almost chuckled, "You're telling me? I don't believe you, by the way."

"You can believe whatever you want to believe," Shinonome shrugged. 

"Then I believe you still haven't answered my question: Why are you here?" 

Shion looked dead into Shinonome's eyes and Shinonome looked right back. Righteous, royal blue on devious, pale gold. It was a silent war of attrition with neither willing to budge an inch. 

A full two minutes had passed when Shinonome finally broke the silence. 

"I thought I might offer some assistance," he spoke quietly, quieter than Shion had ever heard him speak before. From the pocket of his jacket, he procured a small item – a USB stick. "Much like a wise man or mage who offers their knowledge to a hero in need." 

Shion's eyes narrowed. 

"I'll be honest. I don't trust you, nor do I believe you would help me without an ulterior motive," he grit out. 

"How very characteristic of you. However," Shinonome dangled the USB stick out in front of him, "I have a feeling that you have already made your decision of whether to accept my help or not."

"Enlighten me, then, on what I've decided," Shion replied boldly. 

"You would have sent me away right when you heard my name if you didn't think there was something to gain from meeting me again. Secondly, fact that I am still sitting here when you could have me thrown out at any time is proof that you do need help," Shinonome counted his points with his fingers. 

"You, of all people, know for certain how efficient my information-gathering skills are," a third finger.

"If you've need of my assistance, that means your personal methods have not provided results thus far," a fourth finger.

"And lastly," Shinonome leaned in until he was right at the edge of the bed. 

Shion could hear his heartbeat thudding away in his ears but stubbornly refused to move away, his eyes still locked in place. 

"You're no idiot, Shion. I do want something," Shinonome reached out and grasped one of Shion's hands from his lap. He flipped the hand over so Shion's palm was face up and pressed the USB stick into it before closing all five of Shion's faintly calloused fingertips into a fist. Shell-shocked by the action, Shion forgot to breathe. 

"I want to see your story through, to the very end," Shinonome whispered, "I want to see you suffer and stumble and fall to the ground, then rise, just like you did before."

Shinonome finally moved back. 

"So, use me. I am your tool to command. If you want to hate me and refuse my help, then that's fine too, I suppose. Burn the stick, dunk it in water, throw it off a cliff, whatever you please. But, as I said before, you are no idiot."

Shinonome stood up and picked up the paper bag from the flowers with him. 

"I have high expectations for you, Shion."

\---

When the door clicked shut, Shion grit his teeth. 

The hard plastic of the USB stick dug into his palm as he clenched his fist tightly around it. He had been tempted to sock Shinonome in the face more than once. He almost wished he had done it if just to get the wound-up tension out of his system. 

For the second time that week, Shion felt like he had lost. 

First to Valeos, now to Shinonome. 

But, strangely enough, that excited him. 

In the quiet of his room, Shion's jaw loosened and he smiled. 

One of most important things he had learned at rock bottom was that those at the bottom had the most to climb, just like those who had lost everything had nothing more to lose. 

If Shion's starting line was with two losses, then so be it. Two battles lost didn't mean that he had lost the war and he had plenty of pride to burn. 

He quickly paged for the maid. 

"Yes, Master Shion?"

"Bring me three laptops and one keyboard. Oh, and some tea, too if you could please."

"Understood."

As the maid departed to fetch Shion's request, he glanced at the side table, where in front of several grand bouquets and letters and get-well teddy bears, a simple glass vase held a few white chrysanthemums. 

Shion wasn't dead yet. Not by a long shot. 

\---

It was well into the night when Shinonome received a message from an unknown number. 

**00:48**

_I know you're withholding information. There are gaps in Dumjid's sightings that don't make sense. If you don’t want to give up all your cards, then that's that, but if I'm to use you then don't expect any leniency._

How wonderful. How absolutely wonderful. 

Of course, Shinonome thought, _of course_ Shion had already figured him out. The boy was already brighter than he was even just a year ago. 

Fate was too kind in allowing Shinonome to meet someone like Shion. He could have spent his whole life making boy run through hoops and he still wouldn't, couldn't get bored of it. Whether Shinonome was an obstacle or a stray helping hand, Shion would break through and grasp a future beyond anyone's imagination. Shinonome's body quaked with pent up laughter. 

He couldn't wait. 

Shion probably hadn't remembered in his cautionary state, the other meaning of white chrysanthemums. 

Truth. 

Just as Shinonome had delivered a parcel of truth, just as it was true that the moon waxed and waned, so it was also true that Shion and Shinonome would always have the same no-holds barren between each other. 

A noble bird, with talons outstretched. A cunning wolf, readied for the strike. 

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else notice how Shion essentially becomes a deus ex machina for finding intel in all of G:Z? Well, here's a headcanon as to how. I really wish all of Shion's development and growth from previous seasons played out in a different way in Next and Z but alas. At least he still got to rock the Fukuhara uniform.
> 
> Shinonome as a character is infuriating, but also oddly interesting to write. The fact that he does everything just for the hell of it makes him difficult to pin down. Welp.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
